Shellac mixing mistake - Help

[redcentral]

Hi
I've been using shellac for quite a while and love the stuff.

This morning I went to mix up a new batch of polish and accidentally mixed turps instead of metho. Worse still, I checked the labels and instructions and STILL put the wrong thing in!

I've drained the shellac from the turps as much as possible. Do I need to throw out the shellac flakes and start again or can I simply mix it with metho and go from there? Or do I need to do something else to the flakes before I can mix them with the metho.

Also, In the past I've always used clear metho. I've got a bottle with violet "stuff" in it to stop people drinking it. It's a very strong purple. Will this affect the finish giving it a purple tinge? My first choice will be to buy more clear metho but would be good to use the purple metho up one day.

Thanks for your help.

[echnidna]

I'd spread the shellac out on a tray and let the turps evaporate

[Woodlee]

I wouldn't use the dyed metho ,it may affect the finish.
Go to a hardware store and buy a 4 litre bottle of un-dyed stuff.
I get mine from the local M10 , the supermarkets have to dye the stuff they sell.
I take it your in the Alice.

Kev.

[redcentral]

Thanks for your responses guys.

I've ended up mixing the turp soaked flakes in the purple metho. Maybe two wrongs will make a right? In any case I'm happy if the mixture doesn't work out right as it was stuffed in two ways. I'll try the mixture on an inconspicuous area first. I sanded the desk back to raw wood on the top and edges but left the the sides with the original stain and only a light sand. If the shellac does stain it should be ok on the previously stained panels. Worst case senario, I just have to sand a panel or two back and start again. Either way , I'll be getting some clear metho tomorrow and will have some fun polishing.

Woodlee - Yes I'm in Alice. Everything to do with wood here is very expensive or hard to find but I guess it would be worse where you are?

[Woodlee]

Welcome to the forum BTW , good to have another Territorian on board , not many here .

Yes every thing is expensive here as well ,supposedly due to freight ,that's their excuse anyway.
I bought 6 sheets of 280 and six of 320 sand paper yesterday , $16.80 I thought that was a bit rich.
But I needed it .
For some timber I go to Darwin ,but it is expensive there as well ( DAR prime Jarrah 74.00 /L/metre.)
For pine and stuff like ply I just buy it local
Do you get any bush timber there ,like mulga and desert oak? What I mean is do you harvest any bush timber?
I'm off work next week and heading down the track a bit to try and source some aussie ebony , hopefully.
Maybe some beef wood and lance wood too .My little chain saw is on its last legs but I hope it lasts out for this job.

Kev.

[Bob38S]

What sort of sandpaper was that - gold plated?

Geez, mate, I'm sure some of us closer to the big smoke could get what you wanted and get it to you via Ozzie Post cheaper than that. At least I would be prepared to give it a go. I don't have too much access to the big suppliers as I am Qld country but will see what I can do if you are interested. If it is too expensive at least we will both know, if not a woody is the winner.

Regards,
Bob

[RETIRED]

Might be of interest to all you country boys.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=68582

[redcentral]

I bought 6 sheets of 280 and six of 320 sand paper yesterday , $16.80 I thought that was a bit rich.

That's not too much worse than here. I believe some of our wet n dry is over the $2 mark but I found some at Super Cheap Auto for about $1.05 and they're the only ones in town that supply up to 2000 grit.

My ex-hubby (yep I'm female ) did get some stumps (I'm not sure what sort of wood) that even the termites couldn't eat and turned them into very nice lamps. Other than that I've had no experience with any of the local wood. I'm normally doing up older bits of furniture.

One time in Darwin I got a Jarrah table top for $8 from the tip shop cause it had a broken leg and was covered in brown paint. Thankfully I tried to pick it up and realised it was too heavy to be pine.

Might be of interest to all you country boys.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=68582

- Thanks for that link. It looks like postage could be reasonable too.

[Woodlee]

,
Thanks for the heads up on the sandpaperman , looks like Ill be getting my paper supplies from them from now on .
I use a lot of wet and dry because I use it to sharpen my hand tool blades.
Bob thanks for the kind offer ,Ill keep that in mind , but I will definately try the above link.

Red ,
Was in Alice a quite a few years ago for a Power and Water conference and one of the fellas that was with us took us around to a shop in Alice that sold a lot of old furniture .
He bought a china wash basin and ewer for his Missus .I cant remember where it is or the name , but they had some nice antique stuff.
I fell in love with a writing desk that was there ,unfortunately I didn't have the funds for it.
Maybe one day Ill get down there again.

Kev.

[Bob38S]

Not a problem Kev.

Our SupaCheap sells W&D which is also what I mainly use - their normal price here is $1 per sheet but they have a sale now and then when you can get it for 75- 80 cents a sheet - this is usually when I buy mine. For storage I use a cardboard fan like expanding folder which is expanding like a fan and has some 15 pockets to keep the various grades clean, flat and separate - comes from the supermarket or should be available at a newsagents for a couple of $.

[Woodlee]

The expanding file is a good idea and cheap .I was going to make a caddy like a filing drawer set like the old desktop in trays.
But instead , got some of those plastic stackable 6 draw desktop filing drawers ,you can get from the office supply shop .They have a place for a label on the front edge of the draw.
They were tossing them out at work so I grabbed two ,would like another couple .
Kev

[Bob38S]

Perhaps another one to file away if you haven't come across it already - belt sander belts - the finest grades you can buy work well when cut up for sanding blocks - I got caught years ago with some belts where the glue was more like "spit" - so, what to do with belts which I couldn't reglue = sanding blocks - they outlast almost anything you can buy as sheet sandpaper.

[Woodlee]

Yes I agree,
Just a while ago I was reconditioning our kitchen table , it was an extendable affair ,with one leaf .
The legs were an abomination , all the glued joints were loose and the top was like a wave pool .
When I put the top back together as a fixed table I had to flatten it ,tried to plane it with my no 7 but got bad tear out .
I spent quite a few hours with the 1/3 sheet sander and 80 grit paper, back an forth ,back and forth back and forth , change paper .back and forth , you get the idea .

Then I latched on to an idea , new 60 grit sanding belt from my belt and disc sander ,cut it up and wacked it on the sheet sander ,still took a while but certainly cut down the sanding time.The 23year old Ryobi sander worked its butt off that day.

KMart has mixed sheets of sandpaper ,last time I was there I bough a couple of packs ,its not bad stuff , cheap enough ( cant remember what I paid maybe $7.00 - $9.00 for 20 sheets) , Look in the hardware section.Next time I go up I'm going to grab some more.

Kev.

[prozac]

Thanks for the sandpaper tips everyone, some very handy hints. Welcome Red.

prozac

[redcentral]

Bob THANKS for the sanding tips. I was just about to ask about fabric backed sandpaper, which I assume the belt sander belts are. I read somewhere that they last longer but have never used them myself. It would be nice not to have to change the sand paper so often. How do they compare cost wise?

After all these questions about shellac I ended up succumbing to hard burnishing oil for the desk. I can see some good results though not spectacular as I think I over oiled the surface (friends are amazed so it's not THAT bad). I found the website (for the oil) has a bit more info than on the can that would have helped with application. The hard burnishing oil seems to be a LOT of work to get a beautiful finish (amazing finish when you get it right) so I'll have another go on a smaller project, but in the mean time I'll go back to the shellac.

Just tried to attach a photo and the camera died. Will have to wait for the batteries to recharge.